Beat A Drum

July 22, 2007

“Beat A Drum” seems to hover in the air like a slight breeze on a summer day, and…well, not a lot much more than that. It’s pretty, comfortable, and almost freakishly contented. It was originally titled “All I Want,” which is far more straightforward in terms of conveying the general gist of the song and going with the standard mnemonic device of naming a song after the key line of its chorus, but I get the feeling that the band needed to do something to make the song more interesting. In this case, it means pointing the listener in the direction of a line from the final verse; the bit that seems to invoke the “butterfly effect,” and subtly implies that this moment of calmness will eventually trigger a more troubling event further down the line.

and the “beat a drum for me like a buterfly wing tropical storm across the ocean” is ……..one of those moments …one of those REM tapping into the very core of my being moments…where they find a raw nerve , acknowledge it , then profoundly soothe it

Echoing Trans on the “Half-way from coal line” and wolfy and the childhood memories of this song. The lyrics about “the dragonflies are trying to lecture me” is an excellent, poetic line.

The song really is kind of a reminder that perhaps the most beautiful and best thing in life are the little moments. Not the constant excitement or adventure, but the little moments laying in the grass by a pond in the summer, the temperature perfect. That really, if that moment would only just never end. If you didn’t have to go to work tommorrow, get that paper in. Attend to a love one. Go to the funeral. Get the corn harvested before winter, if we could just live in that one moment for the rest of our lives, it would have been a good life.
The senitment is echoed kind of by Ricky in American Beauty with the plastic bag. With Robert Frost in “Stopping in a woods on a snowy evening” Even by Tom Petty in “I got a room at the top of the World.”

This is pretty much the song that most encapsulate the theme of Reveal, a very underrated album. A lazy, summer vibe. A bit of a Brian Wilson feel. Gold.

I agree with earlier comments that this song seems to be a celebration of the simple pleasures and small moments in life.

I also think the song hints that if we’re not careful with the environment that our enjoyment of such may be compromised: why else would the dragonflies “lecture me”? And is the reference to coal also a nod to carbon emissions and global warming?

Avoiding extreme climate change will mean we continue enjoying the kind of day described in the song.

I really like the refrain “this is all I want, it’s all I need”. It accurately sums up how I feel when a beautiful relaxing day allows me to put into perspective the unimportant stuff in life I get distracted by or fret about.

always took the “half-way” bit to be a clever comment on how really close we are chemically to being something else, something not human or even animal , I mean , a few carbon molecules here a few carbon atoms not there and what do you got ? or a comment on really how it’s a fine line ain’t too far betwwen shit and shimmering

Absolutely, transformerdog. I totally agree with that take on the coal and diamond metaphor, especially when used early in the song.

Maybe I’m just looking for a sobering twist: as you’re enjoying the natural world there are things that can ruin it. Actions here can cause “tropical storm across the ocean” and perhaps we don’t want to hear that kind of bad stuff (“don’t explain, I’m sure I’ll want to know”) as it will ruin the current enjoyment.

These phrases lead up to the other use of the word “coal” in the song. I suppose I linked them all up to find a warning message that may not be there.

This song, particularly the demo version included on the “Imitation of Life” single and, later, “In Time,” is my favorite “Reveal” track. No, the music isn’t dynamic. But the key changes in the chorus hint at the eager and tentative feelings that push and pull on romantic yearning. As the voice climbs, halts and descends, so goes the curious journey from why not to why. That moment of content, the long “everything,” would be the resolution of a less clever melody. Here, it’s the moment when escape velocity is denied.

I imagine this song in color, cartoonesque tones. I picture Michael Stipe riding a seahorse or a dragonfly on wild waves of technicolor prancing around the globe. The seahorse turns and looks at me, smiles and winks.

I really wish the demo version had of made it on to the album (incidentally I feel this way about ‘The Lifting’ too). Maybe re-work the middle 8 and add strings for more texture. Listening to the demo I feel the song is heading towards the grandness of ‘Nightswimming’ but the album version does it no favours and makes it sound like just another average track on Reveal. Lines like ‘half way from coal half way to diamond’ had an inspiring effect on me – I interpreted it as ‘the glass is half full/half empty’ theory – in which you may feel like an ugly, worthless person, but you’re still half way to being a great person.

I always saw this song as being about death and the acceptance that we can not control it and that in the end it will be OK. I totally see this as the foil of Hope off Up. In that song the point of view is from someone trying to do everything they possibly can to hold on and in Beat a Drum the perspective is from someone that is OK with it all.

Hope is focused on animals with long life spans (reptiles) and in Beat a Drum it is the passing (dragon flies and sea horses) that are the ones telling him to chill out. I always thought it was the same guy who just finally dealt with the fact he is not going to make it.

Is that weird? Maybe I am reading too much into it but that is what I thought it was about.

interesting take , Adam ;Ignis , that sounds like a cool idea for a T-shirt print, or maybe an idea for a video for this song :)..with you on the back of Stipe,s Harley flying over the “vast unruly molcajete” 🙂

I never thought of the “tropical storm” line in reference to the “butterfly effect” at all, don’t think it is intended to be that heavy of a lyric(with all the implications of THAT.).Lots of great poetic lyrics in this song,

an aborted unfinished poem of mine inspired by a pond thing outside of the conservatory in Pittsburgh PA on a hot humid summer day I sorta remember (my hometown) . by the University Of Pittsburgh campus.just found this in an old journal –1996. —

DWELL

Third morning
Curious eye of black
Water heat bombarded
Nature in the spotted muck fields.

…….just reminds me of this song (though certainly not in the same league –I am not THAT delusional !!–)like I said , it was aborted ,just an idea I had ,a moment of inspiration that resulted in words on the page ..

Let me save you the time. I am a big dork who was president of a mideveal recreation club in college. I am rarely involved now, but they never took my name off the contact list. I published a story in the Lit Mag at Illinois State. And this. That is the extent of my net print, I think.

Well Ignis Sol is my artist name (I must come clean), my real name (Christian name Paul Andrew T.)and is linkable through myspace and then the organization I run if you care to investigate (but don’t bore yourself). If you look up my real name, you will see more of me and more ssssssssssssecretzzzzzzzz.

This song never really stood out for me. I’m glad everyone else seems to enjoy it, but to me it’s just a nice, quiet sort of song. Don’t usually skip it, but don’t alway pay attention to the fact that it’s playing.

I agree with Clive’s theory on the Coal/Diamond line being a glass half full/empty comparison.

Sounds like Ignis has had some “chemical inhancement” to fully enjoy this song, judging by his ideas on a film clip.

Oh Kirsten 😦 just post some naked photos , that’ll be interesting enough for me :)_______________________________JUST KIDDING !!!!!!all you internet cops and thought police lurkng out there, just kidding , was just trying to make you laugh Kirsten ‘cuz you seem kinda down 🙂

Ignis,
Are you a male or a female ?!?! Drag queen , transgender, transsexual , hermaphrodite ???
What exactly are you?
Christian name; Paul Andrew. All this time I thought you were a female:)…was associating Ignis with “INGRID” , just assuming…

I always interpreted this song as being about the narrator’s personal evolution — knowing he’s not the person he was once, and acknowledging he isn’t yet the person he will grow to be, but he’s content with the life he has right now, blissful and enjoying the moment.

Everything around him warns that this moment of peace and complacency is transient, with the final verse hinting of an impending turmoil that will bring an end to the contentedness. Pain catalysing his evolution.

I love this song, actually is my favourite from Reveal… eh… and I like it for a reason I’d like somebody to confirm to me… is the song really about Bill Berry… I don’t know if it’s true but when I think about it I found that wonderful.